The city’s Office of Sustainability is offering a mini-grant program in an effort “to support communities in their efforts to grow, sell, and eat healthy food.” Grants of up to $3,000 will be available for eligible nonprofits, schools, businesses, homeowner associations, faith-based groups and grassroots initiatives. Lucia Athens, chief sustainability officer, said in a news release that creating a more […]
2022
Posted inTransportation
Council votes to replace destroyed pedestrian bridge in Roy G. Guerrero Park
In a popular East Austin park, a sidewalk leads off a cliff down a steep, rocky bank. Across the ravine, the sidewalk continues as if it were daring people to make an impossible leap. A pedestrian bridge used to connect the sidewalks in Roy G. Guerrero Park over a flood bypass channel known officially as […]
Posted inCity Hall
As employees return, complaints of fraud increase
Allegations of fraud, waste and abuse by city employees declined during 2020 and 2021 as a large number of employees worked from home. Brian Molloy, chief of the integrity unit at the Office of the City Auditor, told City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee on Wednesday that his division received 275 such complaints about city […]
Posted inPlanning
Cap Metro makes progress with equitable transit-oriented development project
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority updated the Urban Transportation Commission last Wednesday on the progress it has made on the equitable transit-oriented development project. The eTOD project uses $1.65 million in federally awarded grant money to study ways to reduce gentrification and encourage new economic opportunities for traditionally underserved communities along the new Project Connect transit corridors. […]
Posted inPlanning
Four hundred apartments planned for South Lamar PUD
The property owners of 517 S. Lamar, currently home to Trek Bicycle Lamar and CareNow emergency medical services, are proposing a planned unit development with about 400 multifamily residential units, about 10,000 square feet of retail and/or restaurant space, and underground parking. Jerry Rusthoven, assistant director of the Housing and Planning Department, presented a development […]
Posted inWhispers
Preservation Austin endorses Sixth Street protections
Preservation Austin is officially backing Council Member Kathie Tovo’s resolution to initiate historic zoning for the Sixth Street National Register District. The resolution, which is on today’s agenda, would offer protections for the buildings that are facing increased development pressures in recent months. In a letter to City Council, Preservation Austin wrote, “A local historic […]
Posted inWhispers
Elisabet Ney hosts ‘Secret Place’
The Elisabet Ney Museum is hosting a new art exhibit called Secret Place, which the museum describes as a “site-specific installation created to be a meditation on the internal solitude inherent to the immigrant experience.” Rehab El Sadek, a U.S.-based Egyptian multimedia artist, created the installation from sculpture, photography and ordinary objects to demonstrate the “fragility of individual […]
Posted inTipSheets
TipSheet: Austin City Council, 6.16.22
Today Austin City Council members will meet for the last time prior to their annual summer break. Because they won’t have a regular meeting again until July 28, there’s a lot of pressure to get things done, which usually translates to a long meeting. This meeting, despite a push for efficiency Tuesday, promises to be […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Sixth Street reboot gets first Council OK to raise building heights
In one of the most significant moves to remake the city’s downtown entertainment district along East Sixth Street, a Dallas developer has received the first OK aimed at raising mixed-use buildings up to 140 feet high to the area. Last week City Council voted 9-0 to move forward with a proposed amendment to the city’s […]
Posted inCity Council
Council likely to tweak rules for public speakers
City Council informally decided during Tuesday’s work session to change one of the rules for City Council meeting speakers. Starting at the July 28 meeting, speakers who sign up to address Council remotely about non-zoning items will be allowed to speak first, followed by in-person speakers. City Clerk Myrna Rios explained that she has a […]
Posted inAISD
Austin ISD school board selects Anthony Mays for interim superintendent
Lee esta historia in español. The Austin ISD Board of Trustees has chosen Anthony Mays, the district’s chief of schools since October 2020, to be interim superintendent. He makes history as the first Black man to serve as AISD superintendent. With more than two decades of experience working in education throughout Texas, Mays started his […]
Posted inWhispers
Austin and the Trail Foundation make it official
The Trail Foundation and the Parks and Recreation Department announced Tuesday that an agreement giving the foundation more responsibility for the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail had been executed. City Council gave its blessing to the agreement, which transfers operations and maintenance of the trail and some adjacent parkland to TFF, in October. According to […]